I'm back and I got the next chapter for you!
I want to give a special thanks to KellyJellyxo!
That's all I have to say, now on with the story!
Chapter 8 Narrow X-cape
The following morning John gets up early. After he showers and eats he goes to talks to Sage about what the Marcos told him last night. After they figure out the location John calls those who had volunteered for this mission to meet him in the surveillance room. Once they all accounted for (minus Marcos) he starts to go over the what his had discussed with Sage.
"Eclipse found out that a convoy of military vehicles is taking Lorna and Reed to a military airport. Now, based on the route, the best place to hit it is gonna be an old warehouse district off Peachtree. Can you open a portal, get us inside the transport bus?" John stops pushing buttons then the tablet and turns to Clarice.
"Well, if the driver can see out, then I can see in, but if the bus is moving, then it can get messy real fast."
"Stop the bus not gonna be easy." John says.
"Maybe Marcos can, like, melt the tires." Clarice says with a shrug.
"When is he getting us the time frame for the convoy? He's been gone a while, Johnny." Sonia says with concern.
"And he will be back. He's working on it now." John looks at Sonia with a nod.
"Okay, regardless, melting their tires with lasers is hardly subtle. What do you think happens after that? A pitched battle. People die. Our goal isn't just to get Reed and Lorna. It's to get them alive." Caitlin says.
John nods. "She's right. Our job is to get in and out without dropping bodies. We need another way to stop that bus."
With that in mind they leave all trying to figure out some way to stop that bus without any casualties. It's late afternoon when John gets approached by the Strucker siblings.
"Hey, um John we have something to show you." Andy says a bit nervous, but with some confidence.
John nods. "Alright, what is it?"
"We can't show you in here, we have to go outside." Lauren says.
With another nod John leaves the papers on his desk and follows them, on their way-out Caitlin joins them. John takes a seat on one of the cars while Caitlin stands a few inches behind Andy. They concentrate their power. First Andy uses his telekinesis to grip the back tire on the taxi and Lauren uses her force field to bust it. With a minimal explosion the tire goes lopsided.
"Wow." John says impressed.
"Right?" Lauren says with a smile.
John gets us and they all walk over to the taxi. "That was pretty cool."
"Yeah, more like incredible." Andy says.
"You guys think you can do that at a longer range?" John asks.
Andy nods. "Yeah, definitely. Anything you need."
"The best part is no one will see where it came from, so-" Lauren gets cut off by her mom.
"No. Kids are-are not attacking a convoy." Caitlin looks directly at John.
"We don't have a good alternative here, Caitlin. We're running out of time." John simply says.
"What, so you're gonna use child soldiers now?" Caitlin asks.
"We're not kids like that anymore, Mom." Andy says.
"I said no." Caitlin says and then she walks back towards the main doors.
"Mom, please. I know you're scared. I'm scared, too." Lauren says to her mom.
John gently grabs Andy's arm so he doesn't follow he gives the boy a look. To say, let your sister handle it. Once Andy gets it he lets go of his arm.
"But think about what you said last night. About how sometimes we have to take risks." Lauren continues.
"Really? You're gonna use my own words against me? Look, this isn't going to visit your Uncle Daniel. This is about trained men with guns." Caitlin says.
Lauren nods. "We want to fight for this. You always said that there are things worth fighting for. Was that all just talk? You said it yourself There are risks worth taking."
Caitlin sighs. "If I say okay, I can't have them in harm's way."
John nods. "We just need them to stop the bus. They get out of there as soon as that's done." He doesn't have to look at Andy to know that he agreed with what he had just said.
"Okay." Caitlin says after a while then she goes back inside. Lauren looks back at John and Andy and smiles.
"Alright, you two practice some more, get some dinner and then get some sleep." John instructs before he goes back inside to find Clarice, Harry, and Sonia to tell them that the kids are going to stop the bus. Marcos still hasn't come back yet, but he has other things to worry about aside from his friend. But he'll have to go and track him down if he's not back soon.
It's around 9pm when Marcos comes back. John sees him as he comes downstairs. "There you are. I was about to go looking for you." He says. "Prison convoy leaves at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. They sweep the route at 9:30. We have a half hour window to set up." Marcos simply says. "Hey. Hey. How did it go? With Carmen." John asks. "Uh, it was fine. She was happy to help." Marcos says. John places his hand on his shoulder. "Look, you can talk to me, man. All right? I don't want you to get caught back up-" Marcos cuts him off. "I did what I had to do. Okay? So, back off. We leave first thing in the morning." Marcos says as he heads towards his room. John sighs heading back upstairs to get some rest.
Meanwhile in another part of the underground...
Clarice had just gone to sleep, and her dream was uneventful for a while. Then once again the images of John and her outside in that alleyway come flowing back to her and she quickly opens her eyes. She sits up and plants her feet on the ground she sighs and pinches her nose. What is happening to me? I don't want to feel this way about him right now. With a sigh she turns out her light and lies back down hoping to get some sleep.
The following morning...
Everyone who volunteered were woken up by John and Marcos. So, the Struckers, Harry, Sonia, and Clarice all had to take their breakfast with them in order to get to the warehouse and in position. Marcos, Sonia, and Harry were in position on the side of the building, the Struckers where on rooftop of another building directly across from the warehouse, and Clarice and John are inside the warehouse.
"Convoy's gonna be coming down this road. We should be able to see inside the transport bus from right here. Is this all right?" John asks looking at Clarice. "It's great." She says walking a short distance away from him. "Are you, all right?" He asks taking a seat on the ledge near the window. "I'm also great. Just, uh, haven't been sleeping really well." John nods. "Yeah, well, living at the headquarters, people coming and going, that could be an adjustment." She scoffs. "Yeah, well, anything's better than jail, right? What about you? Was it hard for you at first?" John nods. "It was almost impossible." Her jade eyes widen. "Really?" He nods. "Yeah." She shrugs. "You seem still seem so, I don't know soldier-y. Wouldn't think that anything was hard for you." She takes a step toward him.
He smiles. It wasn't as bad, because I had you with me. "At first it was just me and Polaris and this impossible task, you know?" She nods. "You ever think about walking away?" She asks as she takes another step closer to him. "All the time." He says. "What's stopping you?" His smile fades his expression blank. "What we're doing here. This is important to me. But everybody finds their own reason to stay." Clarice nods. "I just have to ask. The night that you guys saved me, we did go outside together and you kissed me? And nothing else right?" John nods. "Yes, we-we did. As to afterwards no, you went back inside and I went to get supplies with Shatter." She nods. "Right you would think after being there a few weeks I would remember something like that." She turns away and shakes her head. John looks at the ground. Damnit Sonia. What did you do to her head?
The pair is quiet for a while before John hears the convey approaching. "This is it." Clarice gets close to the window and waits for the bus to stop, only problem is it doesn't stop in the right place! "Why didn't the bus stop in the right place?" Clarice asks as she follows John. "I don't know, it doesn't matter now let's find it." He says then smashes his shoulder through solid concrete. "Damn." Clarice says, though she really shouldn't be surprised. She runs in after him and he locates the bus and jumps up four steps. "Up here." John says and holds his hand out to pull her up in the same plane. She grunts almost falling, but he catches her and holds her close for a moment before she pulls away.
"Whoa. Okay." She says and faces the window. "Can you portal us into that bus from here?" He asks. "Yeah." She starts to make a portal open then she loses it. "Whoa." She says. "You okay?" John asks. "Yeah, I just felt something weird there." She says. "Yeah, I felt it too." She tries again, but nothing. "It's not working. Something's interfering with the portal." She says her eyes wide. "Let me see what's going on." He tries to uses his heighten senses, but nothing. "I can't track." He says with a sigh. "What's happening?" Clarice asks. John shakes his head. "No, that's impossible." Confused Clarice asks. "What's impossible?" He pats her shoulder. "Come on." He jumps down and races to an even closer spot with Clarice not far behind him.
"What are you doing?" She asks. "The only thing I've ever known that can disrupt mutant abilities like that is-" He pauses as he looks out this window. "Is what?" Clarice asks. "Not what, who." Clarice follow his gaze seeing a guy dressed like the sentinel services with his eyes glowing yellow. "You're saying that guy out there is what's messing us up?" John nods. "His name is Pulse. He has the power to disrupt systems, shut down electronics." Clarice nods. "What does that have to do with us?" She asks. "He can also disrupt mutants. He can suppress abilitiesfor at least two blocks." Clarice looks back at Pulse. "And he's working with them?" She says clearly pissed. "Not when I knew him. He was my best friend. I thought I saw him die on an attack at a Sentinel Services Relocation Center."
Clarice looks back out the window. "Looks like you're wrong about that." John nods his expression serious. "I got to get to him. I got to stop him. Go check on the others. I got to get out there." He leaves Clarice and heads outside.
John hears shot being fired, but he does not care he only cares about getting to Pulse. He moves slowly staying hidden behind a military truck he sees and officer approach. John wastes no time and tackles him to the ground. They both get up and its hand to hand combat, once John disarms the solider. He blocks the man's punch and then hits him back right in the face then knees him in the stomach and then tosses him into the truck and he's out. John then turns to Pulse backing out of his line of view then tackling him to the ground. Pulse loses focus for a second "Pulse, it me John." He thinks he got through to him only for Pulse's eyes to go back to yellow. John grunts then clutches his fist as then he punches Pulse right in the face, knocking him off his feet and on the ground. John could feel his powers coming back again. He then notices a strange tattoo on Pulse's left wrist.
He looks off to his left to see Clarice's portal open and Sonia and an injured Harry go through, but no Marcos. John shakes his head when he hears an explosion. He heads in that direction he sees Marcos sitting on the ground he crouches down next to him. "You okay?" John asks. "Yeah. Better now. You're bleeding?" Marcos asks slightly shocked. "I'll explain later. Look, we got to get out of here." John says. "No, no, I'm not leaving." Marcos says shaking his head. "Sentinel Services is gonna have reinforcements coming in." John tries to reason. "John, I'm not leaving without Lorna." Another explosion goes off.
"The mutants have their powers back!" They hear someone yell.
"Come on." John says as he gets up and runs to the corner. He stops and Marcos us on his left they watch as the bus windows shatter and the back door is blown off. Out comes Lorna and Reed close behind and he's limping. As Sentinel Serivices open fire Lorna turns and stops the bullets in their tracks she then pushes them back at the agents. She clutches her fists and every single agent is disarmed. "Looks like she's doing just fine without you." John says as they watch the agents as they fall back.
Marcos and John come into view. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey." Marcos says as Lorna runs into his outstretched arms. "How did you find us?" She asks. "It really doesn't matter now." Marcos says.
John helps assist Reed as a Sentinel Servies van speeds their way. John moves in front of everyone, but the driver is Caitlin and he relaxes for a second then helps Reed get to the passenger door. Caitlin embraces her husband for a moment while Marcos, Lorna, and John pile in the backseat. "Come on we have to go." John says. Caitlin nods as she hits the gas and they speed away from the scene.
Let me know what you know what you think, until next time...